Guard for trap-doors



(No Model.)

.J. KEARNEY.

GUARD FOR TRAP DOORS.

No. 427,427. Patented May 6, 1890.

amvwtoz fikfi A2 am ry $231 hi5 attozmm M/M LZQ UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

JOHN KEARNEY, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

GUARD FOR TRAP-DOORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 427,427, dated May 6,1890.

Application filed February 6, 1890- $erial No. 339,424. (No model.)

the same.

This invention relates to that class of devices which are designed toprevent persons from falling through doorways in sidewalks, fioors,850., when the doors are left open; and its object is, first, to provideguards for the sides of the doorway which shall be automatically placedin position for service by the act of opening the door; second, toprovide a guard which may be fitted in front of the doorway whenever itis desirable to leave the door open, to prevent persons from fallingthrough the doorway by carelessly or accidentally approaching its front,and, third, to provide means for adjusting a balance-weight to balancethe weight of the door and its appendages.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination ofparts forming a guard for trap-doors, hereinafter described, andparticularly set forth in the claims, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure I is a perspective View of atrapdoor or cellar-door in a sidewalk, showing my guards in position forservice. Fig. II shows a central vertical section of the same with thedoor closed, 850. Fig. III shows the same with the door open, as lookedupon from above. Fig. IV is an enlarged end View of. the hinge-joint.

6 represents a trapdoor, which may be of wood, sheet metal, wire-cloth,metallic bars,

or other suitable material, hinged at 7 to a floor 8 or wall 9, to swingupward from a doorway which it covers in the floor. I provide this doorwith side guards 10, made of sheet metal, wire-cloth, or other suitablematerial and permanently secured to the under side of the door at itsends, to pass freely within she ends of the doorway when the door closesown.

11 represents the front guard, consisting of a frame comprising thecross-bar 12, the radial arms 13, the pendent bar 14, and suitablebraces 15, and arms 16 17. The arms 13,16, and 17 are joined as onepiece, each such piece being the end of the frame and pivoted to theside guards 10 at 18 and further engaging the side guards by means ofstuds 19, which are rigidly fixed in the arms 17 and fitted to slidefreely in slots 20 in said side guards, these slots being arcs ofcircles concentric with the pivots 18. The cross-bar 14 is rigidly fixedin the pendent arms 1?. The braces 15 may be used in cases where muchstiffness in the frame of the front guard is required. \Vhile thedoorway is in service the frame 11 may be swung on its pivots 18 backout of the way.

21. represents arms provided with weights 22 and slotted at 23 to engagestuds 24, which are fixed in the side guards 10. One or both of thestuds 24 may be screw-bolts adapted to be loosened or tightened with awrench, whereby the weights 22 may first be slid to the extensionrequired to duly balance the door, so that it, with the attachments, maybe easily raised, and yet not so far extended as to balance the dooropen undesignedly, and there be fixed by tightening one or both bolts.The hinge-pin 7 is a rod of iron extending entirely across the door andsecured at its ends in bearings 25 at the sides of thedoor. If the doorbe made of sheet metal, as is most common for such doors, the edge ofthe metal is to be bent around the rod 7 as shown in Fig. 4, leaving aspace under the front side for the edge of the hinge-cap 26 to enter.The hinge-cap is secured to an adjacent portion of the building andpasses over the top and down in front of the hinge, forming aweatherstrip to close the joint across the door, which is usuallyunprotected between the hinges of a door.

I do not limit myself to the exact construction herein described; but Imay adopt any slight changes which do not materially deviate from theprinciple 'hereinbefore described, and particularly set forth in thefollowing claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I believe to be new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is the followin 1. The combinationof the door 0, provided with a hinge 7 and with the side guards 10,secured to its under side, and further provided with curved slots 20,and the front guard 11, pivoted to the said side guards at 18c andprovided with studs 19, fitted to slide in the slots 20, substantiallyas shown and described.

2. The combination .of a hinged trap-door.

provided with the side guards having curved slots in them, as described,and a front guard provided with radial arms pivoted to the said sideguards and with studs to engage the said slots, substantially as shownand described.

3. The combination of a trap-door provided with a hinge whose pivot-pinis a rod extending across the door, and further provided with a plate ofsheet metal passing back under the said rod and up over it as a part ofthe hinge, and another portion of sheet metal secured to the buildingand passingover the hinge-rod and down around its front side,substantially as shown and described.

4. A trap-door hinge consisting of a hingepin long enough to cross thedoor, in combination with a plate of sheet metal extending from the topof the door backward under and then upward over the said rod, and ahingecap adapted to be secured to the building and passing over and downaround the front side of the said rod, substantially as shown anddescribed. 4

I11 testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN KEARNEY. Vv'itnesses:

J. M. QUINLAN, P. E. BRANNAN.

